Cape Senator Wolf sees future service in 'different form'

Monday

Nov 9, 2015 at 9:11 AMNov 9, 2015 at 9:33 AM

By Matt Murphy

Sen. Daniel Wolf, a successful businessman who in his five years on Beacon Hill has become a leading progressive voice in the Senate and a close advisor to the new Senate president, formally announced his decision Nov. 8 not to seek re-election in 2016.

Wolf's decision to leave the Legislature comes at a time when he says he had to do some "soul searching" about the "personal life balance" he could reasonably expect with a family and his other job as the owner and CEO of Cape Air. Still, the Harwich Democrat said he has no intention of withdrawing from civic life and would not rule out the possibility of a return to elected politics.

"It's not quits. It's just taking a different form," Wolf said. "I will take the same energy, and passion and love for the people I'm serving now as an elected official back to the district and serve there in the ways that I have in the past and hopefully that will have more of a footprint across the Commonwealth."

His looming exit from the Legislature, which had previously been reported but unconfirmed by the senator himself, has already prompted speculation that Wolf could be eyeing another run for governor in 2018. Wolf didn't snuff out that possibility on Thursday.

With Republican Gov. Charlie Baker enjoying strong popularity in his first year in office, the search for a viable Democrat to challenge the governor remains wide open, the early focus following on municipal leaders like Newton Mayor Setti Warren.

"I'm definitely not looking at it now," said Wolf, 58. "I don't have elected political aspirations. I have a lot of aspirations to see public policy be more responsive to the need and be more proactive to the visions, but how that fits into a political future is completely uncertain."

Wolf's fledgling campaign in 2014 hit a wall when the Ethics Commission raised concerns about not just his bid for governor but his continued service in the Senate due to contracts his company Cape Air held with Massport, a public agency that runs Logan Airport.

Wolf suspend his campaign and appealed to the Ethics Commission, which eventually changed the rule regarding public officials holding state contracts, but by that time Wolf determined it to be too late to jumpstart his campaign.

"Certainly there was a time several years ago where I thought continuing on the legacy and tradition of what Deval Patrick was building, but it is a different world now than it was then and in three years it will be even a more different world, so where I can contribute the most that I have to contribute in the future is really uncertain to me," Wolf told the News Service.

For Wolf, who said he takes political inspiration from figures like U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the question about whether he will run for governor, or another office, boils down to the "why not the how."

"There is absolutely zero political aspiration in this," said Wolf, regarding his decision not to run again for his Senate seat. "We are really united in this office about needed to see significant change, social change, economic change, environmental change. We're really committed to that, but whether the lever to pull is through the political system, that's a real question in my mind."

While in recent years many of the most successful political figures in Massachusetts have come from outside the political establishment, Wolf said giving up his seat at the end of 2016 is not a political calculation to best position himself for a next campaign.

"This is not based on a cynicism of the process here and we can't get anything done, nor is it based on the knowledge that nobody from the legislature has ever successfully become governor," Wolf said.

During a 20-minute conversation in his office, Wolf spoke extensively about policy, using occasional salty language to describe where he feels the political system has led to "a lot of generational responsibilities not being fulfilled."

Health care is still too opaque for consumers, much of the transportation infrastructure reminds him of something "that could be found in the third-world," and drinking and wastewater infrastructure are in need of rebuilding, he said.

"It's not the process that frustrates me, it's the outcomes," Wolf said.

Prior to joining the Senate, Wolf had been active in civic groups on Cape Cod like the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, the Housing Assistance Corporation and other arts and cultural institutions.

His future endeavors, he said, could include being a "progressive voice in the business community" to facilitate a conversation about achieving a $15 minimum wage, or rethinking how organized labor engages in the political process.

"There needs to be some way of bringing workers and labor together to have a unified voice that's really been lacking since the labor movement has been undermined the last 30 years. I can see playing a role in that," Wolf said, suggesting that could mean encouraging employee stock ownership plans or cooperatives rather than the "traditional and backward-looking labor unions."

He said he has been frustrated by the groups that claim to represent the business community, but are "speaking for rich people" and not the workers and consumers who also make up the business community.

"We need to redefine what the quote business community is," Wolf said.

Wolf in 2014 played a role in helping to shepherd a $3 increase in the minimum wage through the Legislature, and has been active on labor, environmental and other progressive causes, including outspoken criticism of the federal relicensing of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, which is now slated to close by 2019.

After Wolf helped Rosenberg secure the support needed to succeed Therese Murray as Senate president, Rosenberg tapped Wolf to chair the Senate Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling where Wolf has been playing a role in helping to identify key legislation and working with committee chairs to move those bills forward.

"We're going to miss him. He's a terrifically effective public servant," Rosenberg told the News Service last month, adding, "And he's just been pulled in two different directions and he had to make a choice for himself and his family."

A number of locally elected officials on both sides of the aisle, including Democrat Rep. Brian Mannal and Wolf's 2014 Republican opponent Ronald Beaty, have said they are considering running for the Cape and Islands Senate seat.